For the second time in three weeks, Northwestern's coaches have declined to name a defensive player of the week. That says just about all their is to say about NU's performance on that side of the ball thus far this season.
The Wildcats have been awful, allowing 34 points and more than 500 yards per contest to FBS opponents. Northwestern's lone respectable showing on defense came against FCS foe Indiana State in week two.
The Wildcats were unable to build on that in week three against Duke. The Blue Devils looked like the Harlem Globetrotters in the first half, running circles around a bewildered defense.
The second-half performance, however, looked a lot more like what Northwestern has been doing defensively for the last six years or so. After allowing 30 points and 420 yards in the first half, the Cats held Duke to zero points and 138 yards in the final 30 minutes while generating three turnovers.
Now Northwestern is faced with the task they failed at last week: building on their success and continuing the momentum created by the previous week's performance.
"We have to limit explosive plays and self-inflicted wounds; that's painfully obvious," head coach Pat Fitzgerald said on Monday. "We have to get off the field on third down; that's painfully obvious, as well."
Fitzgerald remains insistent that the coaching staff didn't make any scheme adjustments at half time, except one minor formational change. He said the coaches just told the players to "go attack," and they did.
Fitzgerald also said that it's on the coaches to make sure the players understand what they're doing and aren't confused by having too much thrown at them. Based on the amount of Duke receivers running completely free through the Northwestern secondary, it looked like there was a good amount of confusion. Senior linebacker Peter McIntyre put the onus of the confusion on himself and his teammates.
"(We) need better communication," he said. "(We) can't make the same number of mental errors we did in the first half if we want to be the team we can be."
There isn't much good news surrounding Northwestern football these days, but one silver lining is the Cats still have time to turn themselves into the team they want to be. They have one more non-conference tilt, this Saturday when the Ohio Bobcats visit Ryan Field. Then they head into Big Ten play. The season isn't over.
The 2018 team started the season 1-3 and 0-1 in Big Ten play. They ended the season as Big Ten West champions and ranked in the top 25. That defense wasn't giving up 34 points per game to Power Five opponents, though.
Northwestern's offense isn't built to win shootouts and support a porous defense. In fact, throughout most of Fitzgerald's tenure, it's been the other way around. NU has been a defense-first program with on offense that complemented a stifling defense. That was supposed to be the plan this year. Instead Northwestern's ball-control-based offense has found themselves down 14-0 halfway through the first quarter in two of their three games.
One way to get the relationship between both sides of the ball back in sync is for the defense to start taking the ball away again. Northwestern's secondary has zero interceptions through three games in 2021. For comparison's sake, they had six through the same number of games last season.
"Taking the ball away doesn't start on gameday," redshirt sophomore safety Coco Azema said. "It starts in preparation."
While NU's coaches seemed reluctant to make mid-game adjustments against Duke, it might be time to adjust the practice plan. Turnovers helped jumpstart Northwestern's comeback effort on Saturday. Working on creating turnovers in practice and translating that to Saturdays could really change this defense's fortunes. It would put less pressure on the offense and get Northwestern back to playing the complimentary football that Fitzgerald wants.
The second-half performance in Durham was impressive. Just like holding Indiana State to six points, though, it won't mean anything if the Cats fail to build on it.
